This project is aimed at the prevention of blindness and visual disability from inflammatory eye diseases, particularly trachoma and ocular herpes simplex virus infections. The trachoma studies (carried out in Tunisia and Egypt under PL.480 grants) will evaluate devices for the prolonged delivery of antibiotics to the conjunctive (Ocuserts) in the control of severe endemic trachoma. In addition, model treatment programs for trachoma will be developed with particular emphasis on cost benefit analysis. A mathematical model on trachoma epidemiology will be developed to aid in control programs in countries where trachoma is a serious public health problem. The studies on ocular herpes simplex infections will be aimed at studying the prevention of recurrent infection in animal models. In human ocular herpes infections, emphasis will be placed on the evaluation of treatment so the most effective modality for acute and chronic cases can be determined. Studies will also be carried out on acute hemorrhagic conjunctivitis and superficial punctate keratitis to search for their etiologic agents and study their epidemiology.